


For you shall be my lady love, and I shall be your lord

by naivesilver



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/M, Knights - Freeform, Possibly OOC, Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21940210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naivesilver/pseuds/naivesilver
Summary: Where Queen Blaze goes, her faithful shadow follows.
Relationships: Blaze the Cat/Shadow the Hedgehog
Comments: 10
Kudos: 27





	For you shall be my lady love, and I shall be your lord

The queen is alone, or so they whisper at court.

It's not a secret. The courtiers keep their voices low because that’s what you do while you're circling the figure in charge like vultures circle their prey, but even the blind could see it. The queen sits the throne that was once her mother's, young and weak and alone, and all around her people are waiting for the perfect occasion to sink their teeth into her and grasp the power for themselves.

All of this is known as a fact, everyone would agree if asked.

Everyone would be wrong, though, because they can't _see_.

They don't see the web of allies Queen Blaze has woven carefully around herself.

They don't see the energy pulsing under her skin, the fire barely contained in her hands.

Most of all, they don't see the figure hiding in the shadows behind the throne.

Not until it's too late, that is.

The queen needs to be married off. On that most nobles agree.

A thousand offers have been given to her, and a thousand have been rejected, but there is time yet. There are dozens of men and women ready to come at her and find her a consort that will give her a heir and take away her power. Lady Mysaria wants to see Queen Blaze wed to her youngest son, and Lord Bjorn himself will claim her as a wife if he ever gets the chance, just to name a few.

When the right time comes, they murmur.

The right time never comes.

It’s a sum of a hundred little accidents, a plan set in motion so carefully that it’s hard to even see the connection between it all. Lady Mysaria’s rooms are set on fire: the noblewoman herself is not harmed, but all her jewels are lost to her, and so are the letters and the lists and anything she might have needed to keep conspiring and bribing. Lord Bjorn disappears one night, the armies he had been gathering to seize the throne disbanded in one stroke, and the one witness to his vanishing sounds hysterical – a young servant boy who claims that _m’lord_ was taken by a ghost, a dark creature who could move faster than he ever thought possible.

More and more little tragedies occur, and the queen listens to all complaints with a somber look on her face, as though she, too, was suffering along with her courtiers: but her eyes seem to dance with amusement and vindication, and she doesn’t look surprised at all by any of their stories.

Nobody knows if she’s stronger than she seems, or cursed, or both at once; but in the wake of the accidents the conspiracies against her seem to dwindle, and she keeps her throne, and she remains unmarried.

The smallfolk love their princess, and she them.

There are countless, more powerful friends Queen Blaze has by her side – the triplet children of Queen Aleena, the eldest boy above the others; the young princess of the Kingdom of Acorn, who has been ruling in her father’s stead ever since he fell ill; even a pirate crew, it seems, who rave and fight, but only the ships who might mean her harm.

The smallfolk are closer in distance, though, and larger in numbers than any following the rival nobles might gather.

And loyal. Endlessly, solidly loyal.

How could they not follow a girl-sovereign who fights by their side, who risks her life in battle alongside theirs? How could they not love someone who has lowered their taxes, who talks to them as if they were her equal, who listens to any tale of abuse from higher classes and punishes everyone justly, no matter their rank?

Even the shadow that guards her every step is not an unwelcome sight, for all that it creeps noblemen out; though they don’t know its identity, this _ghost_ is not an enemy to the people, and it has been known to wander the keep at night, saving more than one serving girl from the hands of drunken knights.

Rumours against Queen Blaze will never take root in her smallfolk; if anything, it’s the one who speaks against her who should be careful about his words.

Where the queen goes, fire goes with her.

It’s a common saying, uttered by soldiers across the country, and like all rumours it has been greatly exaggerated over the years. Queen Blaze does not, as many seems to think, leave a trail of scorched earth wherever she walks, nor does she set suitors on fire with her gaze when they come asking for her hand.

But like all rumours, it contains a grain of truth as well, for many armies on the verge of attacking the Sol Kingdom have found themselves turning their back to it because their provisions had burned down during the night, and many fleets saw their ships go up in flames before they could touch its coast; and any soldier worth their salt remembers the time Master Nega tried to take the kingdom by storm, only to find himself surrounded by walls of fire, unable to take another step.

It is a relief for everyone, for the queen most of all. She is a ruthless fighter, and a good enough tactician, but it is known that she doesn’t enjoy battles nor killing, even if sometimes there’s no other option but war.

Even if the few who have seen her on the eve of battle could swear to have found her bursting with energy, power exuding from her in scalding hot waves.

There is a story going around the kingdom.

No one knows who told it first, nor how it spread around. The children who hear it from their mothers even argue on whether it has a happy ending or it should be considered a tragedy, and fall asleep bickering about the fate of the protagonists.

It goes like this: once upon a time there was a princess who had fallen in love with a knight.

They had been in love for a long time when she ascended to the throne upon her parents’ deaths, but they could not marry, for he had nothing to his name but his sword and his strength, even if said strength was believed to be superior to that of a common man, and he was able to heal from his injuries faster than his opponents.

Their love story would have come to an end this way, had the knight not vowed to protect his lady love until death came to part them: but he had, and he chose to retreat in the darkest corners of the castle they lived in, keeping watch over her. So the princess turned queen ruled, and the knight turned shadow guarded her, and they could not be together in the light of day, but only under the cover of the night.

It’s hopelessly romantic, young girls sigh when they hear it for the first time. It’s a doomed love, old women grumble instead, and not an example couples should follow.

The queen learned about it for the first time from one of her ladies in waiting, court whisperers say. What they don’t say is that the queen smiled at the sound of it, and then sent the briefest glance to a supposedly empty windowsill, as though to share the amusement with an invisible friend.

Queen Blaze rules over a kingdom, after all; she has no time for fairy tales and shadows.

Hasn’t she?

(Blaze dreams, at night.

She dreams of a throne next to her own – smaller than hers, obviously, for Shadow would not be a king but _just_ a prince consort, something they jape about enough that it’s not as painful a topic as it was once.

She dreams of having him by her side at feasts, forced to lead the dances along with her and not just helping her out of constricting dresses once she’s back to her chambers. Of fighting battles with him in broad daylight, showing the world who, exactly, is covering her back.

She even dreams of an heir, sometimes; a little girl with red eyes and Shadow’s strength, whom she could name Amira, an ancient name of her family that she’s always imagined giving her daughter.

These dreams are so sweet that she would keep dreaming forever if she could. They’re painful, too, so much that she thinks she’ll drown in grief when she wakes up.

But when she does wake up it’s in Shadow’s arms, as brief and shallow a comfort as it is; and besides, she knows it won’t be this way forever, for queens don’t make do with what they have – they fight for more, fight for better times, for themselves and their people.

So Blaze settles back in bed, listen to Shadow’s breathing, and waits.

One day, she knows, the winds will turn: and then who knows what they’ll say, of the queen who changed the world for love.)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Sonic Secret Santa gift for the dearest ilona-the-doggygirl. Happy holidays, Ilona! I don't know whether you celebrate or what, but I hope you'll have some wonderful free days, an amazing new year and a great new decade!  
> Drawing inspiration from your prompt, I decided to include some Shadaze content even if this is mostly a Blaze appreciation fic (I love her too, she's great). This is an absolute first time for me, since I usually ship the both of them with other characters, but I thought it would be fun! I hope I didn't butcher their characterization too much, aside from what was needed for the context I put them in. Also a small nod to one of your ocs, Amira, who I found EXTREMELY cute. Everyone reading this, go check Ilona's art blog, her ocs are all superb.  
> To you and everyone else who might have opened this fic: my best wishes, eat a shitton of food and take a break from study/work. I love you all.


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